Part-time work poor strategy for attracting nurses, says MLA

Opposition MLA Darlene Compton is raising concerns about the number of nursing job vacancies on P.E.I., and how few of them are full-time.

Speaking during question period in the legislature Wednesday, Compton wondered why so few of the positions currently advertised for P.E.I. are full-time, permanent.

There are young health care workers who want to carve out their professional life and work fulltime, she said.

"Your government's nursing strategy flags excessive part-time and casual employment as deflating staff morale. Your own government strategy urged that you improve the current part-time/full-time ratio to 50-50," Compton said.

"How is part-time and casual work going to encourage young nurses and LPNs to pursue health care careers here on the Island?"

There are currently 57 nurse positions advertised in the province. Of those, 10 are full-time permanent and 10 are part-time permanent. The remaining 37 are temporary, mostly part-time, to fill in for short-term vacancies such as maternity leaves.

Health Minister Robert Mitchell said Health PEI is working to keep recent graduates in the province to fill vacancies.

"A graduating class of approximately 80 nurses will be walking the stage at UPEI this year and, Mr Speaker, we are out looking to keep all of those nurses right here on Prince Edward Island," said Mitchell.

He added the province is looking at the vacancies to see if any of them can be combined to make some full-time spots.

At this time last year, the province was looking to fill 89 positions, 60 of them part-time.

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